Glasgow Employment Law Blog

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Female Employees Earn £300,000 Less in Working Lifetime

A new study analysing the gender pay gap has found that in a career, female workers are likely to earn £300,000 less than their male counterparts, with a study finding a difference of £5,732, or 24%, in the average annual salaries in the UK.

The findings from the report have led to an increase in calls to end the gender pay gap more than four decades after the Equal Pay Act was introduced.

The analysis, which was carried out by recruitment company Robert Half, found that in a career spanning 52 years women would earn, in a lifetime, an earnings shortfall of £298,064 in comparison to men. The report also highlighted faster growth for men’s full-time salaries of 1.6% compared with 1.4% for women in the year to April 2015, based on earnings figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), stating that the projection of just under £300,000 could quickly change if the trend continued.

The study found that the gross pay for full-time male employees to £29,934, compared with £24,202 for women.

Many experts stated that the report from the recruitment agency was proof that females were punished for taking paid leave or maternity leave and called for more to be done to tackle such inequality.

The Fawcett Society, a women’s rights organisation, released a statement saying: “The gender pay gap becomes a significant lifetime pay penalty. The gap widens for older women and becomes a significant pensions gap in retirement,”

“The impact of having children means that as men’s careers take off, women’s often stagnate or decline.”

“Their salaries never fully recover. We have to make it easier for men to share care, create flexibility first at work and open up more senior roles as quality part-time jobs.”

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Former Chelsea Doctor Begins Employment Tribunal

A former doctor at Chelsea Football Club, Eva Carneiro, has begun her private employment tribunal hearing against her dismissal which she deems to be unfair. The tribunal offers the football club the last chance to reach a settlement with Carneiro before a public hearing in June.

As well as having an unfair dismissal against the current Premier League champions, the doctor also has a claim against the manager at the time of her termination, Jose Mourinho.

Carneiro is claiming constructive dismissal against Chelsea citing alleged victimisation and discrimination.

The incident which eventually led to her being forced from the club came on the opening day of the current Premier League season. After a player had suffered a head injury, Carneiro ran onto the pitch to treat him, angering Mourinho, who wanted to continue to play despite the injury.

Her presence on the pitch and the treatment of the player led to a touchline spat between the two. As a result of the dispute, Carneiro was banned from attending the ground on matchday and also banned from all first team affairs by Mourinho. As a result, she claims she was effectively ushered from the club. Critics stated that had Carneiro not gone on the pitch to treat the player she could have been dismissed for failing to act on her medical oath.

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Ethnic Minorities Still Face Issue of Race Discrimination

Despite many initiatives and the passing of legislation to try and end discrimination in the workplace, a new report has found that ethnic minorities still face “significant barriers” when attempting to find a job in Scotland.

MSPs revealed in a new report that they found a number of ethnic minorities to be held back by racial discrimination with Holyrood's Equal Opportunities Committee urging the Scottish Government to take action to tackle "defective" employment and recruitment practices.

The investigation into the employment issues regarding ethnic minorities in Scotland found that ethnic minorities are on average, more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid work. As well as being underemployed or underpaid, ethnic minorities were also more likely to be underrepresented in senior management levels despite performing better academically in comparison to white Scots.

The issues were outlined in the committee's report which reads: "We heard of the significant barriers facing people from ethnic minorities in gaining employment and developing a career.

"The evidence indicated a situation that is not acceptable, and we were extremely concerned to hear of how discrimination and lack of access to opportunities are holding back many talented and committed individuals.

"To tackle discrimination and promote diversity in Scotland the Scottish Government must recognise the recommendations in our report. It should, therefore, give greater priority to the issue and target appropriately a range of resources."

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Scottish Employment at Record High Despite Warnings of Falling Standards

Figures from the Office of National Statistics have shown that employment in Scotland reached a record level between September and November

The latest data regarding employment in Scotland showed that there had been a substantial rise in the number of people in some sort of employment with 21,000 more Scots in work, compared with the previous quarter, bringing the total to 2,631,000.

Out of the four nations in the UK, Scotland has the highest employment rate with the employment rate in Scotland being 0.3% higher than the national average of 74.6%. Indeed, unemployment in the same period fell by 11,000, a rate of 0.7%.

Scotland's Fair Work Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: "I am very pleased to note this month's figures, which reinforce the positive longer-term trends in Scotland's labour market.

"Employment has continued to rise and unemployment to fall - with more Scots in work than ever before. Youth employment figures continue to be strong, outperforming the UK statistics.

"However, we are not complacent and we recognise that a number of significant challenges remain beneath these encouraging headline figures."

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Woman Banned from Speaking Native Language Awarded £5,000

A Polish woman has been awarded £5,000 after she was banned from speaking her native language with colleagues in the workplace.

An employment tribunal ruled that Magdalena Konieczna was subjected to racial harassment in her workplace in Aberdeen in what could be a landmark case. The worker had spoken to other members of staff in Polish as some of them were unable to speak or fully understand instructions in English.

However, her HR manager banned her from speaking unless it was in English. Nicol Hosie argued that speaking in Polish in the workplace was “more likely to create a greater health and safety risk than reduce it”.

The ban on speaking Polish applied to break times and at any time when in the workplace.

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Gender Pay Gap Still Major Factor in the UK

A recent study has revealed that the gender pay gap has barely changed in the last four years despite many initiatives to try and reduce the pay gap.

The data which comes from HMRC showed that women made up less than a quarter, 27%, of all higher-rate taxpayers in each of the past four financial years. Last year, this meant women made up 1.21m of the 4.47m higher-rate taxpayers despite a rise of at least one million high-end taxpayers in the same period.

The survey is a blow to the government and organisations who have launched policies to try and reduce inequality in the workplace and obtain equal pay for women. Some banks have aimed to make their senior management team consist of at least 40% females following a study that showed that less than a third of the senior staff in the industry were female with HSBC adding that females were “significantly underrepresented at a senior management level.”

The Government have also launched a number of new plans to try and reduce gender inequality. It was announced in the summer that organisations with 250 employees or more were to publish the difference between the average pay of their male and female employees. These rules were to apply to all sectors and were also to include bonuses and other payments to all members of staff.

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Female Solicitors Suffer From Gender Pay Gap

Female solicitors are effectively working for free from August to the end of the year in comparison to the salary received by male lawyers according to a recent study.

The findings, which come from a Law Society of Scotland showed that the female gender gap in Scotland could be as much as 42% with the average full-time and part-time salaries for males and females differing greatly, especially as careers progressed.

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